Stepdad Punishes Son For Deliberately Watering Plants With Bleach - Mom Complains About Punishment

Jan 12, 2022 by apost team

Pranks are common among teenage boys, but there is still a line that can be crossed. One stepfather is trying to figure out how to manage a prank gone very wrong after his stepson got angry and then watered his plants with bleach. The man decided to cancel an upcoming trip to a national park that the 16-year-old was looking forward to. This caused a lot of controversy in his house as his wife sided with their son and said a simple apology should be enough.

The stepdad posted his story on Reddit to find out if his punishment had gone too far. The post began with a story about another prank the boy had pulled. When the stepdad was sleeping, the son poured water on his face and recorded his reaction on video. The boy then posted the video on social media which was embarrassing for the stepdad.

The author of the post explained that he made his stepson take the video down and the boy became very angry. Then all of a sudden, he was suspiciously nice and offered to water his stepdad's beloved plants. Later in the evening, the man realized his plants had been watered with bleach. The boy tried to lie about the "prank" but ultimately admitted to using bleach on the plants on purpose.

The man was deeply hurt by the boy's actions and decided to cancel their family trip. After the reaction he received from his wife and stepson, the author of the post is now wondering if he went too far. Read on to learn more about this story and to see what other Reddit users thought about it. 

The author is used to his stepson playing pranks on him. He explained at the beginning of his post:

"I have a 16-year-old stepson who loves to pull all kinds of pranks and has been trying some weird pranks on me lately. I don't mind it as long as he's happy and also because nothing is too serious just hiding my farming tools/replacing them with damaged ones and so on. He just keeps messing around like any other kid."

The incident where the boy poured water on his stepdad seemed to go too far but only having to delete the video did not deter him from pulling more pranks. "Days ago he posted a FB video of him spraying cold water on me when I was sleeping. It was embarrassing since he shared it with family. I got mad at him and had him delete it despite him begging me to let him keep it. He kept sulking afterward and had his mom try to convince me to let him repost the video but I thought that was a crazy request," the stepdad said. 

He added, "Later in the evening, I was cleaning my tools and there was a weird smell coming from the watering can. It smelled like bleach. I freaked out and checked my plants and the same smell was coming from them. I confronted Sean and asked what he watered the plants with. He acted dumb and said nothing but I found a bottle of bleach in his room which made me lose my temper. He admitted watering my plants with bleach to get back at me for making him remove the video. I was mortified I immediately canceled the weekend trip to the national park that he was looking forward to."

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The mom and son tried to convince the stepdad that the prank was just a lapse in judgment, but the man did not give in. He said:

"I refused to discuss it, My wife feels bad Sean hasn't been eating well since I canceled the trip but he damaged my plants and caused me hurt and pain. She thinks an apology was enough, he is a kid and made a mistake. She wanted me to let it go but I said canceling the trip is his official punishment."

Commenters seemed to agree that the man did the right thing. One person said, "So if the mom thinks all you have to do is apologize and that's enough say I'm sorry your trip got canceled because you chose to ruin my plants and walk away. Bet he won't get over it!"

Another commenter wrote, "The pranks got to stop. Spraying water while you are sleeping and recording it is not a prank. It's one thing if it's an in-the-moment prank, like hiding the remote when you want to change the channel but to seek it out and disturb you is malicious. He is intentionally disrespecting you. Your wife needs to step in and end this. It has evolved to him damaging your property."

A third Reddit user made a comment about the boy's mom. They added: 

"I don't respect her as a parent. I say this as a parent. She's a bad parent. Saying 'I'm sorry' does not undo your actions and isn't always enough. When you hurt people they can be upset for a long time, it can damage your relationships, and when you destroy people's things or break rules there can be consequences even if you say sorry."

Do you think the stepdad did the right thing? What would your reaction be to these pranks? Let us know and be sure to pass this along to your friends and family.